A Political Prisoner Listening to a Cicada
- Poetry of Luo Binwang

Five-character-regular-verse

During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, Luo Binwang criticized the empress and engaged in a failed rebellion that landed him in prison. While sitting in prison, Luo composed a poem that lamented his desire to be declared as righteous. Centering his entire piece upon the song of cicadas, he expresses how their lively songs initially contrast with his gloomy existence, but in the end, are drowned out by the harsh reality of life. Even in the midst of his pain, Luo crafts beautiful poetry that contains contrasting word choices within each line: 西 (west) and 南 (south), 玄鬓 (black hair) and 白头 (white hair). This contrasting diction creates a sense of parallelism in the midst of the chaos of his life. Even more, piecing together fragments of his pain into articulate descriptions that provoke delicate imagery, such as dew weighing upon wings (露重飞难进) or music submerged by the wind (风多响易沉), he reveals that beauty can be found even in the midst of sorrow. By ending with a question to his readers, Luo reveals the uncertainty and hopelessness of his situation. Although he was executed shortly after composing this poem, Empress Wu Zetian, who, despite having been insulted by Luo, recognized and admired his poetic talent, sent others to collect and publish his works.